Rainy Day
by Lord of Ki
Summary: One-shot. Sheva gets a frantic call from Chris during an intense Spring shower and assumes there's trouble... but is it the kind she expected?


Rainy Day

Clear, watery crystals continuously pelted the windshield, keeping the windshield wipers working furiously as they ensured the driver's path as he stubbornly opposed the unrelenting rainstorm.

Sheva Alomar let out a dreary sigh, hand resting against the silken, caramel skin of her cheek as she observed the cab driver shout shrill curses in a thick Brooklyn accent at the other cars they 'passed'—damn near hit actually—as the taxi swerved through the drenched streets.

"I'm not really in too much of a hurry…" she stated calmly from the backseat, unknowing of how much longer her stomach could take all the sudden swerves and jerks as the flustered driver continued his unruly trek to the address she'd given him.

"Oh it ain't a problem toots! I don't like to keep ladies waiting so—hey watch it you stupid son of a bitch!!"

The 'stupid son of a bitch' in question had happened to be a young cyclist who'd had to leap for his life off of his bike, and land in a shocked heap as his mode of transportation was viciously smacked aside by the taxi.

Sheva shook her head. This certainly was the mean-spirited America she remembered so well, with everyone out for themselves, not caring about the others who might be affected by their actions…not that many of her own countrymen could be considered _that_ much different…

Not wanting to be reminded of the greed driven chaos that often would wreak havoc within her homeland, Sheva instead thought of the reason why she was currently risking her life by riding in this cab, who's driver had apparently seen one too many

action movies as he continued his mad rush through the busy streets.

"Just what is going on Chris…?" she whispered to herself.

Chris Redfield, her partner during the horrific situation that had arisen in Kijuju, but more importantly, one of the greatest friends she could have, had urgently called her just a few hours ago, sounding more alarmed and on edge then she'd ever heard from him before.

"Sheva! Something's happened! I really need your help on this partner! Please get over to my apartment as fast as you can!"

Remembering his words made Sheva shift uncomfortably in her seat; if there was one thing she knew about Chris, he was not a person to easily panic.

And whatever was wrong, had him _especially_ panicked.

She was all of a sudden aware of the Berreta she had concealed under her shirt, the steely cold press of the weapon suddenly sending a nervous chill up her spine. She'd brought it just in case Chris' problem required more drastic means in order to be solved, and knowing their line of work, it more than likely would. Perhaps she was being slight too cautious

A loud clap of thunder snapped Sheva out of her reflections and she peered out of the window at the sky just in time to see white forks of electricity dance in the grayish blue heavens. Despite its seeming ferocity, Sheva couldn't help but admire the beauty of this spring shower. In her own country, she remembered curling up into tight little balls of fear, pressing into her mother and father as tightly she could as the vicious storms of the wet season unleashed their unrelenting fury. Even as she grew older, there always were slight feelings of apprehension when she saw dark clouds on the horizon; bright, but brief flashes of light revealing the deafening violence that was churning within them.

But when she'd come to the States, she'd encountered something entirely different.

Though they could still be just as violent at times, Sheva found the storms here actually quite peaceful every now and again, especially during the spring.

Here, during this particular time, gone was all the fury and noise she had become used to, instead, there was something… peaceful… almost comforting.

Streaking, radiant white forks would be accompanied by slow, deep rumbles that filled the sky with their chorus of simple tranquility.

She would often think maybe she was imagining it, the seeming difference she experienced. Thought of it as some way she'd subconsciously conjured up to differentiate the bleakness of her existence before she'd come to America and the significance of the path in life she had since made for herself.

Regardless, it was still wonderful to experience nature no matter how unruly it could become and besides… given the fact it hadn't yet caused the reckless cab driver to end this borderline joyride with this vehicle twisted around a pole, Sheva was not about to start complaining about it.

"So toots," began the driver, looking back at her momentarily with dull cow eyes, and a chunky, acne ridden face that suggested his hygiene upkeep matched his driving skills, "You come to the city often?"

"No," Sheva stated curtly, "And I would prefer it if you kept your eyes on the road if you don't mind."

The driver chuckled, "Ha! With all this damn rain there's barely any road to see! And besides," his eyes glanced downward, settling on her chest and the driver licked his lips, causing Sheva's stomach to convulse with disgust, "I think you're a lot more interesting then the road."

She let it show just how un-flattered she was by the comment and found herself suddenly reminded of the small curved blade of the Kukri knife concealed under one of the legs of her jeans. Briefly she considered calculating how long it would take her to pull the scabbard of the blade from the strap it was attached to on her leg, unsheathe it and—

_Alright Sheva…Just think happy thought_s…

Calming herself down with a sigh, Sheva shook her head as the taxi slowly came to a stop in front of a huge sixteen-story apartment building. With a blockish design, and polished white marble walls that shimmered beautifully in the pouring rain, it was a nice looking place. She wouldn't call it luxurious exactly, but Chris definitely seemed to be earning a healthy paycheck for his efforts within the BSAA if he could stay in a place like this.

"This is your stop toots." The driver stated, looking back at her again, "that'll be fifteen bucks, although, a little peck on the cheek from such a fine gal like you is all I need to get through such a crap day." He smiled at her, invitingly tapping the side of his face.

Sheva felt her stomach give another heave, and with her temper rising she reached into her pocket, purposefully slightly lifting the bottom of her shirt momentarily revealing the dangerous piece of cold steel that was hidden underneath. With a bit of satisfaction she watched the driver's face suddenly go pale as he looked up at her with a gaping mouth and quickly he tried to stutter out some kind of response to what he'd seen. "Ma'am I— er, I uh, didn't mean— well what I mean is that I, er—"

"Save it." Sheva muttered, tossing the man's money into his lap, "that's probably the smartest thing you could do for yourself right now cowboy."

Without another word Sheva exited the cab, stepping out into the still heavily falling rain. She didn't even bother to regard the taxi as it hurriedly sped off down the street, as she was more concerned with quickly getting out of this storm before her clothes were completely soaked, already the soft fabric of her bright red shirt was sticking to the curves of her toned body. Quickly she jogged over to the front of the building swung open the door, and came inside. She was delighted to be greeted by a pleasantly heated lobby.

The receptionist, young blonde woman, behind the desk in front of her nodded in greeting as Sheva approached.

"Good afternoon miss." She said politely, "Can I help you with something?"

Sheva nodded, "Yes, I'm here to see Chris Redfield."

The receptionist's face suddenly blanked. "C-Chris Redfield? Are you— are you sure you wish to go in that apartment?"

That was when Sheva began to feel genuine alarm.

"Is there a problem?" she asked, trying to stay calm as her Berretta once again made its presence known at her side.

"Well… residents have been hearing odd noises from there every now and again. We've even considered calling the authorities…"

Sheva steeled her jaw, she knewit. Something _was_ wrong!

"Buzz me in." she commanded, a quick flash of her BSAA badge and then her weapon more then enough to get her through the glass doors that led to the elevators.

"Which floor?" she asked, the elevator doors already opening and she stepped inside.

Looking completely shaken the receptionist stuttered out, "S-sixth floor, room Six Sixty-Six."

This gave Sheva a moment of pause.

_Go figure…_

The elevator doors closed as she selected her floor.

Immediately Sheva pulled out her Beretta, unconsciously slipping out the magazine and checking that it was full of all twenty-one 9mm rounds.

It was. Of course it was. She was just nervous.

Nodding in satisfaction Sheva slipped the clip back inside her weapon and flicked off the safety.

Just as the doors to the elevator reopened.

Taking a low-ready posture as she usually did, gun held down past her thigh, barrel pointed towards the ground, Sheva stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway.

Right in front of a young couple, who gasped in shock when they saw her weapon, but seemed to relax slightly when she showed them her badge.

"Room 666?" she asked simply.

The couple pointed down the hall. "It's the very last room…" they said.

_Again… go figure._

Sheva nodded and took off down the hall, her anxiety getting the best of her as solemn feeling had begun to settle in the pit of her stomach.

Just what had happened?

It wasn't all too uncommon for BSAA agents to become the targets of hit men or other forms of life shortening hazards that bio-terrorists could send coming their way when they didn't take to kindly to their cash flows being reduced.

The solemnity inside her slowly gave way to anger in perfect timing with a loud clap of thunder at the mere thought of Chris being harmed because of such cowardly lowlifes.

_If __**anything's **__happened to him…_

Trying to hold back her heated thoughts, Sheva finally made it all the way down the hallway and immediately she saw the door to Chris's room. She approached it and gave it several stern knocks and when she got no answer she called out to her partner.

"Chris! Chris! It's me, Sheva! If you can hear me, open the door!"

No answer. She tried the door handle and of course it was locked.

She knocked again. "Chris!?"

Silence was the only thing detectable thing from the other side of the door and with all the apprehension flooding through the bronzed woman's veins, that simply wasn't good enough!

Her assumptions seemingly confirmed Sheva cursed and backed away from the door.

"Chris! I'm coming in!"

With lightning quick speed Sheva spun her body, her leg quickly up and flinging outward as she delivered a vicious kick almost taking the door off its hinges as it was flung wide open. What greeted her as she stepped inside was an absolute mess.

Clothes lay strewn about in every direction, papers; some official looking while others were just random bits of mail, also appeared to have been flung about in every direction.

Sheva felt her heart rate increase. Either these were the signs of a very intense struggle or Chris was a bit of a slob.

She severely doubted the latter.

Proceeding into living room, another equation added to all the mess scattered about the room was plastic.

**A lot** of plastic…

"Just what the hell happened I here?" she whispered, "What is all this?"

"I think I can explain."

Instantly Sheva turned, her weapon already upraised and pointing at the speaker whom that statement had belonged to.

A shocked gasp tore its way out of her mouth before she just as quickly lowered her weapon.

"Chris!" she cried almost falling on her ass from the sudden sight of the well-built, older man who greeted her with a nervous smile.

"Hey..." he said, deep-brown eyes going from her to the weapon she still held in her hands, "Uhm Shev, what's with the gun?"

"When you called I had thought— I mean you had sounded so frantic about something! I had just assumed you needed my help."

Chris grinned cheekily, uneasily shifting a hand through his slightly unkempt dark hair.

"Well Sheva trust me, if it's such a serious problem that you might need to bring you're gun with you, I'll definitely add in that little detail."

Sheva groaned rubbing her hand against her temple, and she put her gun back under her shirt. He was absolutely right; she figured she'd been too overzealous in bringing a weapon, but after a mission such as the one in Kijiju could he blame her!?

"But I really do need your help with something

Sheva tipped her head to the side. "You do? Well spit it out already Chris!"

Chris suddenly began to chuckle. "Well come on partner, isn't it obvious? Take a look around."

Sheva did so and all she could see was mess, mess and even more mess.

"Chris all I can really see is that you have a bit of a pigsty on your hands. Isn't this supposed to be the week of Spring Cleaning or something?"

Chris suddenly smiled. "Exactly."

When Sheva heard him say that, she gave him a quizzical look, but then sudden realization dawned on her…

She looked Chris directly in the eye. "No."

Chris tried to look disappointed but her stern expression must've made it incredibly difficult as he suddenly began chuckling. "Awww come on Shev. This place could really use the help of a woman's touch don't you think?"

"Hell no!" Sheva barked, "Chris there is no way I'm helping you with this debacle you call an apartment! Besides don't you have a sister who could help you with this 'woman's touch'?"

Chris chuckled. "Well yeah, but when I called her and told her about how bad my place was, she did only what a sister could do."

"Which was?"

"Tell me she'd rather go through natural child-birth then help her big brother clean up his apartment," he said grinning, " besides she more then likely has her own mess to deal with, we Redfields' aren't exactly the most organized of people as you can see… so then I called you and… well… I figured you would be just as enthused as Claire was in helping me with this so… figured it would be better to sound a little frantic…"

"Well good job Chris, I'm here." She turned on her heel, "And now I'm gone."

She headed towards the door, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chris take on a defeated expression. "So you won't help?"

Sheva thought about this for a moment before a growl of thunder resounded outside at the same time a shot of lighting coursed through her own mind, causing her to grin and turn back around. "Well if there was any possible way for you to make this worth my while. Now would be a very good time."

Chuckling Chris said, "Well I suppose I could pay you."

"Well for one I would suggest a lot more then _supposing_ for a job like this Chris, besides I'm not that interested in any money anyway."

She took a step towards him. "Got anything else for me I wonder?"

"Well… I don't know, I'm a simple guy, don't really know what else I could offer you…" he said coming towards her as well.

"Is that right?" Sheva whispered, "Well a few things certainly come to my mind Chris, I'm surprised you haven't thought of them…"

Chris closed the distance between them, "Well like I said Sheva…" he reached out towards her lightly caressing her cheek, "I'm a simple guy."

Sheva grinned, "Well let me make it easier for you."

She kissed him, the luscious fullness of his lips making her sigh as she enjoyed his tangy taste and the ticklish bristles of his light goatee.

"You're so wet…" he whispered, his hands caressing her skin through the soaked material of her shirt.

"Blame the rain…" she giggled.

Chris chuckled in return. "Sheva, I said I was simple, not stupid."


End file.
